Blue Moon (Book One in The Blue Crystal Trilogy) by Pat Spence

getting back to normal,
nervous on the other about seeing Violet and Theo, and wondering
how they’d be with me, what to say to them, if indeed they deemed
me worth talking to.
    I must have been quiet at
breakfast because my Granddad gently put his hand over mine and
said comfortingly, “Never mind, Emmie, if he’s not interested in
you, he’s not worth bothering with. Concentrate on your studies and
your friends. Someone else will come along who doesn’t play games,
you wait and see.”
    I smiled at him sadly. The
problem was I didn’t want anyone else. I only wanted Theo. How
could anyone else compare to him? Those deep cornflower blue eyes,
that flawless skin, the tousled hair, the perfect looks. I pulled
myself up short. What was I doing? They were his physical
attributes. I knew nothing about him at all. We’d scarcely spoken
more than a few words. Talk about shallow. Since when had I gone on
looks alone? I’d always said personality was more important, the
ability to laugh and share a joke. I had no idea if Theo even had a
sense of humour. He might be a prize idiot for all I knew. And yet,
I knew, instinctively, that he and I would be a perfect match. I
felt with every particle of my being that we would be good
together, would share the same sense of humour, belonged
together.
    “Stop it,” I told myself. “He’s
not interested. Get over him. It never even got started, so there’s
nothing to even get over.”
    Still that niggling voice in my
head refused to be silent, reminding me that he had been watching
me from the upstairs window at the hall, had even told his mother
about me. I had made an impact, I knew. I just couldn’t work out
why it was so problematic for him. What was it he’d said to me,
that day by the tennis courts? “Stay away, for your own sake.” What
was that all about? It seemed a touch over-dramatic. I sighed.
There was something here I couldn’t fathom.
    “I’ve just heard the most
amazing story on the radio,” said my mother, walking into the
breakfast room and breaking into my thoughts.
    “What’s that?” I asked,
blankly.
    “A local woman has been found
dead,” she answered. “Apparently, she was in her forties, but when
they found her, she looked as if she was over 100. Her husband said
she’d been full of life and energy one moment, then suddenly
started ageing and died the next. The coroner said he’d never seen
anything like it.”
    “Yuk. Sounds like something out
of a horror movie,” I said.
    “Probably overdid the
anti-ageing products and they backfired,” suggested Granddad.
    “That’s very funny, Granddad,”
I said, laughing. “You’d better watch it, mum, you might be
next.”
    “Not funny,” said my mother,
pretending to be upset. “By the way, have you seen the time? It’s
ten to eight. If you don’t go now, you’ll miss the bus.”
    “Alright, I’m out of here,” I
said, grabbing my backpack and making for the door.
    “Just for the record, Emily,”
she called after me, “You’ll be old yourself one day.”
    “Not me,” I called back.
    I met up with Tash and Seth,
walking up to the bus stop.
    “Alright?” said Tash.
    “Yeah, sorry haven’t been
around over the hols, I felt pretty bad. I think it was a virus,” I
glanced at her. She looked back, not smiling, which wasn’t
encouraging.
    “You better now?” she
asked.
    “Yes, have you done your
assignment on love poetry?” I ventured.
    “Don’t even mention it,” she
sighed.
    “No don’t,” said Seth, “I don’t
want you two quoting love poetry at each other again.”
    “Seth!” we both exclaimed at
the same time, and as we laughed, just like that, it seemed we were
back to normal.
    Tash sat next to me on the bus
and I was hugely relieved when neither Violet nor Theo was waiting
at the bus stop by the hall. With any luck they wouldn’t be at
college today and I wouldn’t have to address the problem of what to
do about them. They seemed to take days off with